Taking a buddy with one crocodile lake trip under his belt, and a couple of newbies in early august. I have proposed 5 routes for him and one of them is LIS to Shell or Lynx lakes. Does anyone have an estimate of time to Shell and/or Lynx double portaging? Which of the two would you choose for campsites/fishing/scenery?

Never been on this classic route so kind of hope he picks it, although the other options are good too. I want him to decide the route.

Thanks

Easily in one day with plenty of time to set up. The most difficult portage will be from the parking lot to the river. Next portage has Elm Falls. Plan a few minutes to visit it. Take the longer portage between Upper and Lower Pauness. It is the easier one. If you have time, take the brief detour to check out Devils Cascade. Don't portage anything - just walk it. Portage to Shell is longer, but easy.

The campsite on the south end of Con Island is the premier site. A few nice sites on Lynx. Avoid the single site on Little Shell.

We left Ely at 6:30, double portaged and were on the first sight on Lynx by 2:00 in the afternoon. It is one of our favorite campsites. The walleye fishing on Lynx is great and we did day trips to Heritage. Love that route.

When I was up that way I stayed on Lynx. Getting from Shell to Lynx was pretty quick. There's a very short portage from Shell to Little Shell. I was able to canoe from Little Shell to Lynx. Pretty area.

On the water at decent time and you can have lunch on Shell. Like Bannock mentions, watch out on the parking lot to river put in......there is a section of polished rock that is very SLICK on wet mornings. I've slipped and seen others slip. Bad way to start a trip. North site on Con Island nice also. Good fishing in the little bay between that site and the portage to Heritage.....find the weed lines.

Paddling solo in late July, it took me 5 hrs from the far northern site on Lynx to the parking lot. Any site on Lynx will accomodate your group of ? 4 ? Campsite competition
is far less on Lynx Lake.

Easy trip into Shell.

We do it in about 3 hours single portaging. I would add another hour or so if double portaging. Most of the sites on Shell are decent. Can't speak to the sites on Lynx. Fishing on Shell has been very good for us in the 3x's we've been there. I've got some marked up maps I can send you if you would like.

quote cowdoc: "On the water at decent time and you can have lunch on Shell. Like Bannock mentions, watch out on the parking lot to river put in......there is a section of polished rock that is very SLICK on wet mornings. I've slipped and seen others slip. Bad way to start a trip. North site on Con Island nice also. Good fishing in the little bay between that site and the portage to Heritage.....find the weed lines."

I had a near flawless trip until taking out. Found that slippery rock. Banged up knee a little. Not bad but hurt my pride some.

I'll be there around the same time. Look for 6 ladies and a golden retriever with canoes from VNO. We're hoping to basecamp on Lynx. If you see us, I would absolutely love to meet you.